Boggle

[pepperbeast]

I read this comment in an article about SCA feast planning

Comments

[mmy_me]

eel = weird? I join you in boggle world.

[pepperbeast]

Yeah... go figure. I'd be pretty thrilled if I have eels to serve at a feast, even if we only had them broiled.

[slothphil]

They can doubtless be got -- there's commercial eeling at Lake Ellesmere.

[pepperbeast]

I think it all goes into those teeny packets of smoked eel and the like.

[wldrose]

I dont agree, but there sure as heck is a place for it at and in most feasts. (I would say at least here in the east perhaps 20% would be mad for it and another 30-50 would try it) but the service vs art on feasts is a big thing

ash

[lady_guenievre]

Honestly, it's (to me) just a matter of where in the feast you put it - if you fill people mostly up first, then add eel, it's all good..

[wldrose]

that would be what i would do but hey a feast evetn go for it

[pepperbeast]

Why would I fill them up *before* serving something really nice?

[nos911]

I now have a massive craving for smoked eels.

[pepperbeast]

Ditto... and I'm mentally making up recipes for an eel pate.

[nos911]

I came up with a smoked fish paste idea/recipe last night when I couldn't sleep. I now have to go buy some smoked mackerel.

[pepperbeast]

Yum... I could almost see my way clear to a seafood feast if there were smoked mackerel involved.

[raventhourne]

I can see the advice to be a general statement of "don't make every item odd" but not a blanket statement about the entire thing.

I think every feast should feature something that not everyone might have tried, or had the opportunity to try and boy I'd love to be served eel.

nom...nom...eel...hmmm.

[slothphil]

I've successfully served chicken livers in an egg sauce at a feast (Scully's recipe in Early French Cookery for the Viandier's Menus Droits). Just a small dish for each table in one course so people could skip it in favour of more traditional feast fare without feeling under-fed. People tried it, several came to tell me they liked it.

I think that if a cook is trusted to produce good food, they can serve up damned near anything from the mediæval recipe corpus and have a reasonable proportion of people taste it.

[raventhourne]

You and I are in violent agreement.

You phrased it much better

[pepperbeast]

I think that's about right. xanthe_selkie points out that you can spot the SCAdians at a social gathering around here by the way they stuff food into their mouths and *then* ask what it is.

[alexandralynch]

Eel is not much appreciated here in the midwest, but that is changing slowly. I blame the fact that most of us over a certain age grew up seeing fish on our plates as either salmon cakes, tuna surprise, or fried.

I always try to make sure the food I serve is not too "weird". Though I have a recipe that turns out what looks like purple barbecued chicken, and it is highly popular. (Chicken braised in pomegranate sauce)

[pepperbeast]

I see the principle of the thing, but I also tend to think that most of the stuff that appears in the Medieval/Renaissance corpus is perfectly recognisable food made of relatively ordinary ingredients.

I also had a very fried fish/salmon cakes/tuna casserole experience of fish as a child, but I got over it. Truth be told, I still *like* salmon cakes. and fried fish can go down well enough at a feast, if it's carefully done.